The deployment of EV charging infrastructure on looped service connections

The paper presents an investigation into the suitability of existing looped service connections at customer premises in supporting future loading scenarios. Areas of interest are the operation of looped service connections in the current form and technical solutions that could reduce the impact of an increase in customer demand through the adoption of low carbon technologies. The main contributors to residential load increases are thought to be Electric Vehicle (EV) charging and the adoption of heat pumps for heating systems. The study aimed to establish safe operating limits of the most common in-service looped service connections. Variables considered in the investigation included the service cable (PILC vs split concentric), the type of service cut out (series 3 vs series7) and the way that the looped service was connected at the first service cut out (top or bottom loop). An additional area of investigation was the effect of operating the looped service in an enclosed environment (cloakroom or similar) and how this compared to a free air scenario (GRP enclosure or unheated porch). Commercially available load limiting EV chargers were trialled on a number of looped service connections whilst operating at the revised continuous rating of the service connection.